Vive la danse!
by Mythical Dreamer
Summary: Anzu and Ryou are going to a dance together! This explores the development of their relationship, which will hopefully last through all the trials and tribulations they will face.
1. Default Chapter

**Vive la danse!**

By Mythical Dreamer

Note: This is based on a real experience, but a lot of the things are not true (for example, I might have learned how to dance ballet since four, but I am not a good dancer)

Anzu was so excited for the school dance tonight. She was going with Ryou, her long-time friend (and maybe boyfriend (?)! She paused to read her horoscope as she munched on her breakfast: "Pisces. Four star day. You have great expectations that are easily crushed…Tonight: Kick up your heels". "Hmm... that's both encouraging and discouraging," mused Anzu. Then again, maybe my great expectations will be crushed by my friends, who are coming over to help me with my hair and makeup…I'll probably expect to look like Cinderella, only to come out like one of the evil stepsisters- the fat one, probably. But, oh well, it says that I should dance tonight, and anyways, I started dancing since I was four, so it should be no problem."

Anzu had a high energy level throughout the school day. Ryou was just as excited as her, well, at least, Anzu hoped so. Ryou would come to pick her up around 7 PM, and they would go to the dance, which was held in the school gym, and come home around 10 PM. Anzu daydreamed her way through all nine classes, and rushed to her bus as soon as the final bell rang.

After exercising, showering and dressing up, Anzu waited for her friends at home. Finally, Mai Kujaku and Shizuka Katsuya arrived! "Oh my god, that's such a beautiful dress! Where did you get it?" asked Mai, pointing at the lilac, flower-patterned silk dress. "China- where else?" said Anzu (Author's note: see my story, Apricot Swirls; this dress will appear sometime in there). "Alright, then let's set up and get going!" shouted Shizuka, tripping over herself in her eagerness to plug in the curling iron. Anzu sweatdropped: "Uhm, aren't you guys getting too enthusiastic about this?" "No!" cried Mai..."We're going to make you look beautiful!" They giggled and got Anzu to sit in a chair while they ate. After a while, they still hadn't started, and Anzu's neck was getting stiff. In her mind, she thought: "Yep, the horoscope was true. My great expectations are going to come to nothing." Out loud, she said: "I don't mean to be rude, but can we start yet?" "Of course, hon." Said Mai. Without washing her hands (!), she got out the makeup palette and started applying purple eye shadow to the top of Anzu's eyes. On the other hand, Shizuka was combing through Anzu's hair, and since Anzu's hair tended to knot, Shizuka was pulling Anzu's head backward as she got rid of the snags. Thus, Mai kept on drawing onto Anzu's eyebrow instead of her lash line. When Anzu suggested that Mai wait until Shizuka was finished, Mai replied: "No, we're professionals, we are efficient and we will make you look gorgeous so that Ryou will never want to leave you." Since Anzu liked Ryou very much, she kept her mouth shut through all of Mai's dabbing and drawing on her face, but she felt as if she was a canvas being painted on.

Finally, Mai finished and assisted Shizuka with the hair. "So, how are you guys going to do my hair?" asked Anzu. "Well, we were thinking about tight curls in the top half, pinned up with bobby-pins, and then a slight inward curl on the bottom half. We'll add some accessories, of course, to match your dress," said Shizuka. "Okay, well I can't wait!" said Anzu, hoping that this would not turn out to be a fiasco.

It took an hour and a half to finish the hair. By that time, Anzu's mother had come home from work. Now, Anzu's mother was a **strange** lady who was also very conservative. When she saw how Anzu looked, her face flopped and she could not even muster a polite smile at the girls. A very awkward moment ensued, until Anzu said to her mom: "Mai and Shizuka did a great job, don't you think?" Anzu's mom just snorted rudely, and left. Anzu was mortified: "I'm sorry. My mom's just weird like that." "No, it's alright. We understand" both of them said. However, this 'understanding' probably caused them to run away, as Shizuka's mom quickly picked them up and left them in afterwards.

Anzu glared at her mom after the girls left: "Can't you smile at all?" Her mom just gave her the silent treatment and scowled, twisting her face like the ugly stepmother in Cinderella. Anzu looked in the mirror to see herself, and gasped in horror. Maybe she did not look like an evil stepsister, but she sure was not Cinderella. The makeup was very strange, and made her eyes look small; the hair was pretty elaborate, but Anzu worried that it would be too much for a school dance. Knowing that if she kept this up, her mother would not let her live tomorrow, Anzu decided to compromise. She would not look good anyways, so it wouldn't matter.

Thus, Anzu allowed her mother to clip her hair back in a matching barrette (which made the top half of her head look flat) and then to wash off all of her makeup. After adding accessories, Anzu was ready to go. Ryou finally arrived, and as Anzu slipped on peachy pink pumps, Ryou's mom took pictures. Then, they left for Domino High.

When they arrived, Anzu's first impression was that the decorations were very pretty, but the gym was much darker than she would expect. Still, being able to spend time with Ryou was great! The one thing that made her laugh throughout the dance was Ryou's impression of dancing. It was, well, eccentric to say the least, and it rather like jogging/moving arms randomly around.

At first, Ryou, being the perfect gentleman that he is, was not too fond of 'close contact', so Anzu was left a little frustrated. On top of that, the music was not so great for dancing. This situation was mediated by her friends and her outrageous teacher- Madame Canard. Madame Canard was fond of acting crazy, and she constantly tried to get Anzu and mostly Ryou to dance to the music.

Despite the fact that she had trouble dancing, Anzu had a lot of fun. The best part, though, came at the end. Anzu knew this was her only night of freedom, and she would have to keep the memory forever. Finally, the DJ played a slow song (they had missed the other slow songs as they had went to the cafeteria unintentionally (or intentionally for Ryou) at that time). Anzu mustered up her nerve, and with the help of Madame Canard, drew Ryou close to her. Anzu was a little afraid that Ryou would think she was throwing herself at him- that was **not** was she was doing.

The music was a little corny, but that did not matter. What mattered was that Anzu could feel Ryou's warmth radiating through the clothes. Taking a deep breath, she inhaled his scent- it was a little sweaty but nice and reassuring, without any Talc or some other men's deodorant on it. Since they were not very adept at ballroom dancing or whatever, Anzu and Ryou just swayed back and forth to the music. After a few minutes of bliss, the song was drawing to an end. Anzu sighed: "Is it over?" "I think so," whispered Ryou. As the lights turned on one by one, Ryou smiled at Anzu.

It seemed to Anzu that she was overtaken by some kind of force. She tilted her head to the left, while Ryou did too. Then, their lips met for about half a second, before Ryou jumped away (or maybe Anzu was hallucinating and she jumped away?). No matter how long it lasted, this was Anzu's first kiss, and it sent shudders throughout her body. She blamed her stupid hormones for "racing at the speed of light" (3.0 times10 to the 8 m/sec).

Recovering, Anzu smiled and blushed, then walked hand in hand with Ryou out the gym and into the night. They had to let go before Anzu's domineering mother came, but to Anzu, this was a very sweet night.

After Anzu slipped into bed, there was still one thing troubling her: "Why did Ryou pull away so quickly after the kiss? Was he not up to it? Was he worried that their parents would see? Did he not like her anymore? Did she have halitosis?" Anzu hoped to ask him these questions the following week.

Author's note: I hope you liked this! It will, hopefully, be followed up by other chapters unless Ryou really does not like Anzu (then, Anzu would cry and mope and commit

suicide -- ;; just kidding! )

Also, it was supposed to be a crying, then smiling face above but Word is not helpful


	2. Chapter 2

Vive la danse!

Chapter 2

By Mythical Dreamer

Over the weekend, Anzu had a rather hard time with her mother. The worst thing happened after her mother developed the photographs. "Look at this, this is totally improper!" shouted this domineering matriarch as she pointed to a photo of Anzu and Ryou dressed up and smiling together. "What's wrong with it?" asked Anzu, hoping her mother would not start her "You're so fat" rants. Truth to tell, Anzu had weighed around 120 lbs, but more food, along with regular exercise along with her training to be a dancer, had bulked her up to almost 130 lbs. But still, she was 5'5'', and at least, according to her doctor, Anzu did not need to lose weight. Then again, Ryou was about 125-130 lbs, so maybe she did…

Her thoughts were interrupted when her biznatch- err-mother said: "This will ruin your future. What if you get a husband and he sees you like this. Then, he'll leave you and you won't be able to explain!" Anzu could find serious flaws in this argument: 1st, she was pretty young in this picture, and if the guy had doubts, Kodak had the time and date of the picture printed at the side. 2nd, she would never ever be dependant on some man. 3rd, if Anzu ever found a seemingly perfect guy that was jealous of her past relationships, well, she would dump him. However, when Anzu tried to voice her opinion, it did not work, because her mother kept on blabbing about the paparazzi that would be out to get her daughter and keep her from a perfect future with a good man. Obviously, her mother was insane or acting the part.

No matter what Anzu said though, she could not dissuade her mother from throwing away the photographs. Knowing that it would be futile to search through the trash for them, Anzu executed Operation Photosave. When her mother showered, Anzu transferred the not yet deleted photo from the digital camera into the computer and saved multiple copies of it. She also saved the photos on a disk.

Thankfully, her mother did not notice anything. Therefore, all Anzu had to do was ponder her situation with Ryou. She knew he liked her, but how long what it last? They were teenagers after all. Though Ryou was not flightly, Anzu wondered if she had scared him away with her 'kiss'- now, he might not like her anymore. Anzu sighed, and wondered if there was some divine force that would help her through this time…


End file.
